Please help Ellen and Abigail…

Hello I'm a working* mother to two young daughters Abigail (aged 9) and Ellen (aged 5)...

Things have been difficult for us with ongoing educational/cognitive tests and interventions for Ellen...she has had speech and language difficulties since she was a baby and various specialists have also now identified she has learning difficulties (Cognitive/long term memory) and possible autism. On top of this my father, their grandfather was diagnosed with Hyper Tropic Cardio Myopathy (thickening of the heart walls), as this can be genetic the girls and myself underwent ECG's and Echocardiograms, fortunately we were given the all clear. However they identified that Ellen had a hole in her heart between the top two chambers, this normally closes at birth, but had not with Ellen, the specialist is hoping this will close by adolescence, but if not she will require surgery. In the meantime she will need monitoring on a regular basis.

The NHS speech therapist says there's nothing more they can do, the school are stretched to breaking point and currently Ellen gets 5 minutes a day one to one support despite being told she can not learn in a group environment...she loves school and is making friends but we are afraid she is going to fall further behind, she is already a good year or more behind her classmates and the gap is widening, despite our best efforts to support her in school and at home. A private speech therapist has also assessed her (we were given a free session) and says she can help but at £40-50 for a half hour session we just can't afford it. We are also looking to the future and wondering how we can set her up as an adult...she is creative, imaginative and outgoing...love acting, singing and crafts, so maybe this is the route we support and encourage, whilst also working on her basic needs such as social skills, reading, numeracy and literacy.

Abigail has been somewhat over looked in light of Ellen's issues, but recently it has been identified that she too may have learning difficulties and is being assessed for dyslexia. So like Ellen she also needs our support going forward...

The above issues may not seem much for some and indeed many other families face hardships above and beyond ours...so why consider us?

As I say I'm a working mum, always have been (only had 6 weeks off when Ellen was born), my husband has been primary carer as his situation with his health meant I needed to be the main bread earner...he's been a fabulous dad, putting aside his own ongoing health issues; gout (due to his kidney condition he's had since childhood) and early onset arthritis, to give them the best care he can. Since the girls are now both at school he has taken part time work as a caretaker for a local school, however this is only 10 hours a week aa he still covers the school runs and various appointments / meetings for Ellen and Abigail. I have been putting in 60-70hr weeks (although I only paid for 40hrs), working away from home (Work/Life balance is pitiful) and despite doing my best (and surviving 5 other rounds of redundancy), I was given the chop in August on the minimum redundancy amount which wasn't even a months wage. I have just been told I will only get the bare minimum of JSA etc and won't get any additional support...my savings are gone I'm in a desperate state, so any help will be greatly appreciated...

We don't have family/friends we can turn to ...so it is to the kindness of strangers I turn.

Thank you for reading my campaign...

*I have recently been made redundant and my savings wiped out with some big bills, then to top things off our boiler has died a death...I'm currently in the process of applying for work, attending interviews etc but need help short term to support my family. My offer to work at some jobs even for a basic amount is turned down because I'm too experienced, or "won't stick around if another better job comes along" and the application times for my usual type of work can be a lengthy process. Please can you help?